Music Boy and China Girl
by metaphorically-blue
Summary: [NejiTen] [AU] It's their little ritual, so they sit under the sun and listen. [Why do you have all this weird music? ...Hn.]


AU. Very AU. Mostly Neji and Tenten, with some Gai, Lee, and Hanabi. But mainly Neji and Tenten.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Naruto, not Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. Sigh.

Music Boy and China Girl

They have this little thing they do.

Every day at 11:45, she comes and sits on the wall in the courtyard (he's always already there) and eats her lunch (he never has any). About six-point-two-three seconds later, she will wave her hand in front of his face and ask what he was listening to (his reply is always incoherent, a monosyllabic mumble that she never really understands), which lead to her grabbing one of his earphones (there's always one that hangs down instead of sitting up in his ear) and sticking it in her own ear. And for the next half-an-hour, they'll sit there, listening to whatever the heck he _was_ playing for himself (though maybe it was for her too, _maybe perhaps possibly yes_).

("Look" says somebody, "There's Music Boy and China Girl," but after a while, it gets old, and they don't care, and maybe they didn't ever, really, but they definitely don't care, not now)

Sometimes, they do homework ("What did Gai-sensei say about factoring cubic equations?" "Look, you do this…"), other days they sit in silence. Every once in a while, Lee will come by ("Neji! How do you keep your youth when you do not eat?" "…Hn." "Lee, just let it go. He won't listen to you." "But _Tenten_…"), but mostly they're alone.

It's their little ritual, something they keep constant, because it's them and they need something to keep, so they sit there under the sun and listen ("Why do you have all this weird music?" "…Just listen, okay?").

And gradually, it progressed from lunch to other times, like in math class ("I hate algebra." "…Hn.") or after school ("Nejiiiiii, is that a _girlfriend_?" "…No." "What is she, then?" "…A friend." "But she's a girl, and your friend, so she's your _girlfriend_, isn't she?" "…No, she's not." "_But_…" "…Don't you have homework to do or something?") She'd remind him to eat breakfast before school ("Neji, if you skip both breakfast and lunch _one more time_ I swear I will hit you over the head with this textbook, and _no_, _I don't care if you say you're stronger than me, you won't be if you don't eat!_"), he'd help her pick up her things in the halls when she was late and tripped (_again)_ over the warning cone by the boy's bathroom that was practically glued to the linoleum tile.

And maybe (_possibly she hopes probably he thinks to himself_) they've become friends somehow, despite how strange and unlikely and just plain _weird_ that may seem.

("Hey, isn't that Music Boy and China Girl? Are they friends or something?" some guy asks another, but his friend shrugs, because he doesn't know, and maybe they don't know either, but maybe they do and just won't say it out loud)

And they keep arguing and glaring and doing what they do, but mostly listening ("Well?" "Just wait a second… Yeah. Yeah, I hear it."), always listening.

One day, they find themselves in the park near her house, and so they walk around and drink some coffee, because while they may not be something _more_, it's perfectly normal for a guy and a girl who are (just) friends to go somewhere together. ("…Are you cold or something?" "No." "…Here." "I'm fine." He rolls his eyes at her, "Just take the jacket, okay?" "I'm—" "No, you aren't." And he throws the jacket at her, and stops walking until she pulls it over her arms. "Better?" "…I guess." "Good." She's confused, because was that Neji, caring or something? About her?) Except he forgets to take back his jacket, and she's stuck at her house, wearing it over her sweater (which feels kind of weird, because it's almost as if _he's_ there, except not) and feeling in the side of it, and finding his iPod, just sitting in his jacket pocket. So she tells herself she'll bring it to him tomorrow.

But tomorrow comes and she doesn't see him at school, and he's not at lunch, and she sits on the wall and wonders what happened (_where is he where is he_) until Lee tells her Neji's been in an accident and that he's in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit and oh_my_God, I hope he'll get out okay what do you think? So Tenten spends the rest of the day in a bit of a daze and walks home in silence, except the silence is loud (so _freaking_ loud, too loud), so she takes out his iPod and puts in the earphones because even if she's reminded of him and starts wondering, it's better than having to walk in this _silence_.

("Hey" someone asks their friend "China Girl's here, but where's Music Boy?" And his friend shrugs, because they don't really care)

The next day's a Saturday and instead of doing something typical (instead of doing something that let's her imagination wander and think things that she doesn't want to think) like procrastinating or watching TV, Tenten walks over to the hospital. She waits at the reception desk and gets the room number before beginning to head down the hallways, where the walls are white and the ceiling lights buzz and the male nurses walking past sometimes whistle (she gets a mental image of what Neji would do to said male nurses and almost starts laughing). Finally she finds his room and stops and stands and stares at the door ("Did you need anything, Miss?" "…No, I'm fine.") before finally going inside.

The room is as white as the walls (she wonders if the painters ever got bored, with all that white) and she sees Neji, apparently asleep, with no visitors. So she sits on the chair and glances at the clock (which says 11:45). So she says "Hey Neji", which causes him to open his eyes and glare at her ("What?"), at which she points at the clock (11:47) and pulls out his iPod from in her jeans pocket.

("What do you want to listen to?" "…I don't care. Play whatever you want.")

So she takes one earphone and hands him the other before turning it on and scrolling through his playlists ("Your music is so weird." "…Hn.") before choosing one and turning the volume up.

Later, the nurse finds them, Tenten asleep with her head on his pillow, Neji staring at the ceiling, listening as the song plays on. For a second, the nurse thinks of kicking Tenten out, but decides against it while shaking her head and walking out the door ("Kids these days…")

And later (forever), they'll get together at 11:45 and pull out his iPod while she takes one earphone and he takes the other before she calls his music "weird" and he mumbles in response (and maybe it's just as it seems, but maybe it's something more, _maybe she thinks maybe he wonders maybe they hope_).

Because he's still Music Boy and she's still China Girl and this is what they need to keep as they sit under the sun and listen.

_(Do you hear it?)_

_FIN_

_(Yeah, I do.)_

A/N: I came up with this on a bus ride. A very long and very boring bus ride. The title just sort of… presented itself. And since I was reading Just Listen (which is an excellent book) the plotline also presented itself. (Neji is obsessed with music because music is hardcore, and Neji is hardcore, and therefore they should be put together. XD)

The accident is supposed to kinda-sorta represent when Neji went up against Spider-dude and nearly died. Sort of. Maybe. I don't know.

Review? Please?


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